January 4, 2010

Blue Shirts are the traditional clothing of Hakka’s. It also represents Hakka’s culture. Being a Hakka, I was not even aware of the existence of blue shirts. After the discovery, I found out that most of the Hakka costumes have already been westernized since the Japanese colonial era. My grandmother’s generation has limited memory of the blue shirts, not to even mention my generation. Fortunately, due to the isolated environment and conservative personalities of the villagers, Meinung let this traditional culture to pass along.

「錦興行」是美濃碩果僅存的藍衫店，營業至今已有近八十年的歷史了。

“Jing Sing Shop” is the only remaining shop making blue shirts in Meinung and has a history of almost eight decades.

The kind grandpa in the photo is the founder of “Jing Sing Shop”. He is also the oldest master in Taiwan in making of the blue shirts. The residents call him “Jing Lai Master” because of his name- Shieh, Jing Lai. Grandpa Shieh was born in 1910. Although he is almost 100 years old, he can still cut fabrics professionally with scissors.

二、三年前，將店交由長媳接班後，謝爺爺終於結束了與縫紉機相伴近八十載的日子了。

The shop was taken over by his eldest son’s wife about 2 to 3 years ago. Grandpa Shieh finally ended his days that were accompanied by the sewing machine for almost 80 years.

目前錦興行是由謝爺爺的兒子設計款式，由媳婦裁縫製作。

Currently, the son of grandpa Shieh’s is designing the style and his wife tailoring and producing.

In the past, Hakka women needed to handle everything in the house and also work in the farm. White clothing would get dirty easily; black clothing would not bring luck, so women used durable fabrics as the plant dyed blue cotton fabrics for the clothing. Hakka people are conservative as demonstrated on their costume design, which is simple, plain, and conservative. Blue shirts have very simple style, loosing shirts without showing body curve lines, the front piece open to the right, cuffs fold as a pocket, no heavy decorations on the shirts.

現今的藍衫大多已經過改良，除了傳統長衫外也設計較為俏麗的短版，在縫線及車邊上也富於變化。目前一件藍衫售價約三千元以上。

Beside the traditional style, the modern blue shirts are shorter with a variety of designs on the edge of the tailoring. A blue shirt costs NT 3000 or above now.

店內掛著「阿嬤的紅花布」燈籠，這個才喚起我小時候的記憶。記得家裡有一件又厚又重的棉被，被套就是這樣的花布，伴隨著我好長的一段歲月呢！

A lantern is hanging in the shop with “Grandma’s red flower fabrics” which reminds me the childhood memories. I remember I had a thick heavy blanket. The cover of the blanket was made with this printed fabric. This blanket accompanied me for many years.

不管是藍衫還是花布，客家之美跨越了傳統與現代，在世人的肯定下持續綻放著。

Regardless of the blue shirts or printed flower fabrics, the beauty of Hakka has passed beyond the tradition and modern; it continues to bloom with wide interest.

I am not sure if that counts as my 5th language.I was brought up in a Mandarin- and Hakka-speaking family.I speak Mandarin with my parents; Hakka with my grandparents and aunts. I also know some Cantonese, since it's quite similar to Hakka.

What are other people's experiences about speaking Hakka in Hakka homes (or at least where one parent is Hakka)? It seems to me tha many in the younger generation are no longer learning Hakka at home, so it is sad that our language may not persist into the distant future... I learned about the Hakka blue shirts from my parents, but it is not a widely known tradition among the young. Blue has been a favorite color among the Chinese, however, as evidenced in the blue porcelain produced historically by us.

I think it also depends on where we live. The families live in the Hakka communities still speak Hakka, so do their children. In my case, since my parents grew up in the aborigines’ community, they communicate in Hakka and Mandarin. There are some words they don’t even know in Hakka. I use both Hakka and Mandarin to talk to my mother, but less in Hakka which is the fact. Because of that, my mother did not know the blue shirts culture, and my dad passed away early, so I was not able to find out from him. The good thing is that there is a 24 hours Hakka TV program which can definitely help in learning Hakka and promoting Hakka culture in Taiwan.

To Lechua- Blue shirts now can be seen in a number of occasions: The owners or salesmen of the stores wear blue shirts to attract tourists. We can also see people wearing blue shirts for the fashion reason or showing his/her characteristic. Unfortunately, they are not wearing them for the tradition..

I discover your blog by searching Hakka Fashion ! My dad's family are all Hakka of Hong Kong and I discover the Hakkas of Formose last year during a little trip ! I'm glad I found your blog, I think I will have a lot of pleasure to discover more about Taïwan ! :)